Kenya | What are the Flavor Profiles of Dorman AA FAQ Washed SL28 SL34?

Kenya | What are the flavors of Dorman AA FAQ Washed SL28 SL34?

Kenya, in East Africa, is one of the world's major coffee producers, with roughly six million people working in the coffee industry, mostly as smallholder farmers and cooperatives. Kenyan coffee is grown mainly at altitudes of 1,400 to 2,000 meters, in regions including Ruiri, Thika, Kirinyaga, Mt. Kenya West, Nyeri, Kiambu, and Muranga, primarily on the foothills of Mt. Kenya and the Aberdare Range. Many Kenyan coffee regions work hard to preserve native forest ecosystems, protect natural gene banks, and support the reproduction of wild coffee varieties, nurturing a diverse population of coffee trees.

In 1930, in this favorable environment, Kenya's signature varieties SL28 and SL34 were bred and named by the Scott Laboratories. According to the laboratory's botanists, SL28 and SL34 are genetic variants; SL28 carries a mixed heritage of French Mission, Mocha, and Yemeni Typica. It was originally bred to mass-produce beans combining high quality with pest and disease resistance. Though its yields later proved lower than hoped, SL28's copper-colored leaves and broad, bean-shaped seeds deliver wonderful sweetness, balance, and complexity, with prominent citrus and dark plum character.

SL34 tastes similar to SL28, with complex, varied acidity and a lovely sweet finish, but its body is heavier, richer, and cleaner. It carries French Mission, Bourbon, and still more Typica lineage, and while its beans look much like SL28's, it copes better with sudden heavy rains. Together, these two varieties define the unmistakable Kenyan style: intense, vibrant fruit acidity, a rich body, and beautiful balance.

Dorman Kenya AA FAQ

Country: Kenya

Product Name: Dorman Kenya AA FAQ

Grade: AA FAQ

Processing Method: Washed

Varieties: SL 28, SL 34

Flavor Description:

Kenyan coffee is known for a distinctive dark-plum, wine-like mouthfeel accompanied by a blackcurrant finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Brewing:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji Royal Grinder setting 3.5

Brewing Method: Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15 with 15g of coffee. First pour 25g of water for a 25-second bloom. Second pour up to 120g, then stop. Once the coffee bed has drained to half, resume pouring slowly up to 225g. Total extraction time approximately 2:00.

Analysis: The three-stage pour draws clean lines between the coffee's front, middle, and back-end flavors. Because the V60's deep ribs drain quickly, pausing between pours helps extend the extraction time.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Washing is a traditional, water-based way of processing coffee cherries: flotation, depulping, fermentation soaking to remove the mucilage, rinsing or further soaking, drying, and finally hulling. Because the beans sit in water for extended periods, chemical changes inside them consume much of their simple sugars (fructose and glucose) while organic acids increase — so washed coffees tend to highlight the bean's own character with bright fruit acidity and a clean, crisp profile. Kenya is a master of this craft, famously using a double wash: an extra round of rinsing and soaking that pushes the coffee's juiciness to its peak.

FrontStreet's Kenya Little Tomato is a standout example — bright notes of cherry tomato, dried plum, snow pear, black plum, and golden sugar, sweet-tart and dripping with juice, a longtime favorite of coffee enthusiasts. If you love washed classics, the FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 is another must-try: washing was practically invented on Jamaica's cloud-wrapped island climate, and it keeps Blue Mountain's aromatics intact, brewing with pure notes of hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel in a flawlessly balanced cup. And for a gentler washed profile, FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe Guodingding Cooperative lot — medium-light roasted — layers jasmine florals and bright citrus over green tea and honey tones, at home in a pour-over, cold brew, or espresso.